United States Air Force map of Mars from 1962

United States Air Force map of Mars from 1962

This map of Mars, produced from telescopic observations by the United States Air Force, was used for planning the Mariner 4 flyby mission, the first successful Mars flyby. The original map has been processed to remove grids and names and reprojected into a simple cylindrical map projection, making it easier to compare to modern maps. The dark albedo markings on this map are linked by straight lines, the famous "canals," the idea of which had generally been abandoned by most planetary astronomers by 1962 but which remained in this map as something of an anachronism.